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SuSE 9.2 & Netgear WG311T connection problem

Hi,

I recently downloaded the SuSE 9.2 DVD image via FTP, burned it and installed it. Everything seems to be ok. This computer is in a shed without network cable and thus relies entirely on a wireless connection via a Netgear WG311T pci adapter to a linksys 11Mbit access point.
It has worked fine in Windows and Fedora core 3 with madwifi drivers, so any problems are not due to interference or weak signal strength.

Wireless tools are installed and the Netgear card was detected during installation and configured in YAST (dhcp, wepkey, ssid, channel, mode and rate). It didn't work. I then disabled DHCP for the other ethernet controller (3com gigabit onboard Asus A7V600 motherboard), just to be sure. Still no connection.

Here is (hopefully) some relevant info:
Using the following kernel: 2.6.8-24-default
The sources are also installed.

Relevant output of lspci

Code:

0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8377 [KT400/KT600 AGP] Host Bridge (rev 80)

0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 PCI Bridge

0000:00:09.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c940 10/100/1000Base-T [Marvell] (rev 12)

0000:00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)

...

Output of lsmod (I think these are the only relevant modules)

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by

...

wlan_wep            6400  1

ath_pci                57248  0

ath_rate_onoe          8968  1 ath_pci

wlan                  108380  4 wlan_wep,ath_pci,ath_rate_onoe

ath_hal              131792  2 ath_pci

...

Output of iwconfig. The ssid and key have been removed by me, nothing else has been changed

Code:

ath0      IEEE 802.11  ESSID:"**********"  Nickname:"linux"

          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF

          Bit Rate:1 Mb/s  Tx-Power:50 dBm  Sensitivity=0/3

          Retry:off  RTS thr:off  Fragment thr:off

          Encryption key:XXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XX  Security mode:open

          Power Management:off

          Link Quality=0/94  Signal level=-95 dBm  Noise level=-95 dBm

          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0

          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0  Missed beacon:0



lo        no wireless extensions.



eth0      no wireless extensions.



sit0      no wireless extensions.

I have not yet tried getting the madwifi cvs snapshot and compiling the modules myself, but I'd rather use the stuff SuSE provides and control it all via YAST. I have tried searching google and LQ.org, but I mostly find enthousiastic posts that the card works out of the box. For me it doesn't, unfortunately, and if anyone can tell me how to fix it I'd really appreciate it. Please also let me know if I have left out any crucial information.

Thanks in advance,

JJ

I'm using a pcmcia Netgear WG511T on Suse 9.2 pro and got it working.

in YaST I set the eth0 connection to "if plugged in" and the ath0 to "hotplugged"

what's the output of ifconfig?

sometimes the internal wired NIC, which is probably eth0, starts up at boot and won't let the wireless card grab an address.

you might also try

#ifdown eth0

to manually disable eth0 to see if this is the problem.

hope this helps.

by the way, you do have green light on the 311T, no?

-Costrevs

Hi,

Thanks for your reply! Here's the output of ifconfig:

Code:

ath0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0F:B5:28:C4:DF

          UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:199

          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

          Interrupt:10 Memory:e1240000-e1250000

The green powerlight is on, but unfortunately your suggestions have not worked.
I have had a look at /var/log/boot.msg and discovered something very weird:

Code:

...

Setting up hostname 'linux'done

Setting up loopback interface    lo

ERROR: command 'iwconfig lo mode Managed' returned

      Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :

      SET failed on device lo ; Operation not supported.

ERROR: command 'iwconfig lo nick linux' returned

      Error for wireless request "Set Nickname" (8B1C) :

      SET failed on device lo ; Operation not supported.

ERROR: command 'iwconfig lo channel 6' returned

      Error for wireless request "Set Frequency" (8B04) :

      SET failed on device lo ; Operation not supported.

ERROR: command 'iwconfig lo rate auto' returned

      Error for wireless request "Set Bit Rate" (8B20) :

      SET failed on device lo ; Operation not supported.

ERROR: command 'iwconfig lo key off' returned

      Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :

      SET failed on device lo ; Operation not supported.

...

done

(I have omitted sections containing the key and ssid)

and then again when entering runlevel 5:

Code:

<notice>start services (network)

Setting up network interfaces:

    lo

ERROR: command 'iwconfig lo mode Managed' returned

      Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :

      SET failed on device lo ; Operation not supported.

ERROR: command 'iwconfig lo nick linux' returned

      Error for wireless request "Set Nickname" (8B1C) :

      SET failed on device lo ; Operation not supported.

ERROR: command 'iwconfig lo channel 6' returned

      Error for wireless request "Set Frequency" (8B04) :

      SET failed on device lo ; Operation not supported.

ERROR: command 'iwconfig lo rate auto' returned

      Error for wireless request "Set Bit Rate" (8B20) :

      SET failed on device lo ; Operation not supported.

ERROR: command 'iwconfig lo key off' returned

      Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :

      SET failed on device lo ; Operation not supported.

done    ath0      device: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)

    ath0      configuration: wlan-id-00:0f:b5:28:c4:df

    ath0      (DHCP) . . . . . no IP address yet... backgrounding.

waiting

    eth0      device: 3Com Corporation 3c940 10/100/1000Base-T [Marvell] (rev 12)

    eth0      configuration: eth-id-00:11:2f:11:6c:e2

ERROR: command 'iwconfig eth0 mode Managed' returned

      Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :

      SET failed on device eth0 ; Bad address.

ERROR: command 'iwconfig eth0 nick linux' returned

      Error for wireless request "Set Nickname" (8B1C) :

      SET failed on device eth0 ; Operation not supported.

ERROR: command 'iwconfig eth0 channel 6' returned

      Error for wireless request "Set Frequency" (8B04) :

      SET failed on device eth0 ; Bad address.

ERROR: command 'iwconfig eth0 rate auto' returned

      Error for wireless request "Set Bit Rate" (8B20) :

      SET failed on device eth0 ; Bad address.

ERROR: command 'iwconfig eth0 key off' returned

      Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :

      SET failed on device eth0 ; Bad address.



    eth0      is controlled by ifplugd

doneSetting up service network  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .done

<notice>exit status of (network) is (0)

This does not look right, but I don't know how to fix this. If anyone can help shed some light on this, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks

JJ

Ok, it seems I've made a silly mistake and unintentionally had every interface setup with iwconfig by activating the wrong script in /etc/sysconfig
I corrected it and iwconfig does not get called on "eth0" and "lo" anymore. But still don't get a connection though, and I still see the following in /var/log/boot.msg

Code:

...

ath0      configuration: wlan-id-00:0f:b5:28:c4:df

ath0      (DHCP) . . . . . no IP address yet... backgrounding.

...

did you give the 311T a default router?

i've heard stories of certain cards not working w/o a default router set in the Yast config.

-costrevs

You mean specifying a default gateway under the routing section in YaST?
I have tried that, but still no connection.

Tried deactivating IPv6 and modifying LINKLOCAL_INTERFACES in /etc/sysconfig: Changed it from "eth*[0-9]|rt*[0-9]|wlan[0-9]|ath[0-9]" to "eth*[0-9]|rt*[0-9]|wlan*[0-9]|ath*[0-9]"
Didn't work either, allthough to be honest I don't really know why that would have worked anyway.

If anyone has any suggestion on what to try next I'd really like to hear it, because I have no idea :)

Thanks in advance,

JJ

Well, I've found another solution in the form of re-installing Fedora core 3. Fedora may also not work out of the box, but at least I have a kernel and madwifi drivers on a cdrom that will get it up in a jiffy.

Thanks anyway for the help!

JJ